seth77

The Valentinians and the Theodosians make a very generous numismatic theme, but I am going to add just some stuff that hasnt been already added: Gratian for his quindecennalia c. 380-2 Valentinian II for his decennalia c. 383-5, from Alexandria, struck with a die made by a guy who was quasi latilliterate. Theodosius II c. 425-35 from a unrecorded issue of Nicomedia lacking any officina mark: Valentinian III from Cyzicus c. 425-35, but likely 425 for the elevation of Val. III as Augustus in the West under Eastern auspices:

It could've been worse: I was called names on a Facebook group some time ago for identifying a person's coin as something else than his pipe dream. Being taken for granted is not cool, but being insulted and verbally abused by illiterate would-be scammers testing the water is a few steps lower on the ladder to the bottomless pit of insanity that social media often can be.

Had the biggest crush on FF 😍 (the coins are not bad either).

Is that a shadowy dot there, that is what you mean? If Rome mint, the dot is probably an optical illusion, since Rome did not use this marking system.

It seems like the hairstyle is not really helpful for a chronology of Etruscilla coinage at Antioch, unlike in the case of the coinage for Faustina. And by recycling older types and copying the current coinage of Rome, Antioch seems to not have had an individual and coherent Imperial coinage. At the same time the city was also minting the S-C D-E Greek Imperial coinage: the billon tetradrachms and AEs.

These coins of Herennia Etruscilla from Antioch are mentioned briefly in RIC IV-3, for both regimes of Traianus Decius and Trebonianus Gallus. There is not much detail on how to separate the coins minted under Decius from those minted under Gallus, so perhaps this post might help a bit in this problem: AR24mm 5.03g antoninianus minted at Antioch ca. mid 251 to later. HER ETRVSCILLA AVG; draped bust right, wearing stephane, set on crescent; hairstyle arranged vertically PVDICITIA AVG, Pudicitia seated left, drawing veil from face and holding transverse scepter. Dot in exergue cf. RIC IV-3 65a (Antioch) At a certain point, probably around 250, the Imperial mint at Antioch starts marking the officinae involved in the production of silver-billon antoninianii. There are two types of markings recorded -- either by Roman numerals or dots, but both usually positioned on the obverse under the bust during that last part of the reign of Decius. This specimen has a dot on the reverse in the exergue, a highly unusual position for an officina marking on Decian coinage. The marking in the exergue on the reverse would become more prominent during the reigns of Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian (in 252?) -- which indicates that this 'experimental' issue for Etruscilla is at the very least very late in the reign of Decius, possibly past mid 251 (so after the death of Decius), since Gallus did not discontinue the coinage minted for neither Etruscilla nor Hostilian at Antioch (see RIC IV-3 pp.113-119 pp. 155-6). In the case of Etruscilla the coinage might have continued for the rest of the year, even if in small quantities. RIC has all Etruscilla coinage under Decius (including the coins struck after mid 251) and even so the type is quoted as R(are) -- certainly not rare anymore, but not very common either. A similar die, with what looks like at least one dot in the exergue was used for a rare coinage for Volusian at Antioch (RIC 233b), dated late 252 to mid 253. So if one wanted to separate the coinage for Etruscilla minted at Antioch under Decius (perhaps late 250/early 251 to mid 251) from the continuation of the same coinage under the new regime of Trebonianus Gallus (later in 251 to very early 252?), looking for the position of officina markings might be a good starting point.

I think that's Aemilian AN XIV

Man, I wish they added this leap day to like June or July rather than boring and frigid February.

Tbh I was kind of expecting to see here one of the Hostilians PROVINCIA DACIA that I have seen from Savoca in their Blue weekly auctions.

I have actually noticed different these last few months. In fact Jerusalem/Aelia Capitolina is one of the cities I meant that I see getting high prices regardless of emperor or condition in the auctions I follow. Mints from Judaea, Samaria, the Decapolis etc. seem to be more available now than last summer for instance.

The 18th... century? 🤔

In my case, there are more markets that act completely independent from each other. 1. In the medieval market things went to a standstill for me as early as 2022 or thereabouts. Things that I would like to add in this field are at this point unreachable, not on account of price but mostly of rarity. 2. In the Palaiologan market 2023 was probably the best year for scarce and interesting trachea types, mostly very affordable. My top 2023 post was dedicated to these coins. The overall look of these coins and the difficulty in making attributions if you are not familiar with the types and features of these issues mean that most get offered with minimal or even no attribution at all and most of the time individual research really pays off. 3. In the Greek Imperial market there is great polarization: types and towns that command very high prices in ANY condition and towns and types that are really slept on despite the objective interest, be it mythological or historical. But even in the high-price areas good deals are to be had as much as it was before, especially in the unattributed areas. 4. In the Late Roman market I have been noticing a rise in prices for very common but very high grade material in the last 5 years. The trend has been steadily building and now I add the best-looking common 4th century coins in my watchlist just to see how high would they rise once the auction starts. At the same time, decent condition material continues to be very affordable even for scarce types and under-attributed material where rarities might dwell is readily available at any time. 5. The last 2-3 years I used the weekend auctions on biddr not just as means to follow certain interests but also as a relaxation venue. That means I would have my beers while following the live auctions and decide ad hoc to bid on things that I had previously not researched, if 'cheap'. It was part of a frame of mind everybody here knows too well: the 'let's add stuff to make the shipping fee worth it' approach. This has brought very interesting results but mostly just regular stuff that does not spark joy. How many F to VF- maiorinae from the second half of the 4th century does one need before they become uninteresting? All-in-all I stand by my observations from 2020/1 onward: what I am after did not jump in prices at all after the covid debacle. In fact it kept mostly in the same nominal ballpark price-wise, which in the situation of high inflation means an actual decrease in price. Regular groceries are up 80-90%, energy bills around 30-50% higher, but when it comes to coins, 100EUR can still command the same good value and interest (if not more) in all categories listed (with the exception of medieval) as in 2020. At least for me. Some latest swell bargains, none posted before:

'Don't believe everything you read on the internet.' - Constantius II

I wanted an Antioch issue for Publius Quinctillius Varus but not the regular yellow-reddish dirt or stripped specimens, and this one was offered unidentified, with a pleasant although uneven green patina:

Way better thank you.

Were they drug dealers?

Another one: https://www.nummus-bible-database.com/monnaie-78047.htm

Interesting article, although a bit hard to read. I wish the author would have just written it in Italian rather than translating it in English and using terms that seem Google translated.

Two cups of hot coffee from Sparta.

Thank you, this is an unexpectedly good pic. It's a Stobi for Caracalla sole reign. I have a book by a Bulgarian numismatist about Stobi, if anyone wants it let me know.

20 years ago these were very popular, now not so much, there are just a couple showing on the forums:

Reason to post this dupondius again: With the stars.

I always check it for Late Romans, it's very helpful if you don't have RIC VII onward, but even if you have it, it's a decent resource to extrapolate the relative rarity of a given variation in the overall type.

This is such an interesting type. The multitude of Smyrna reverses in such a short time is also interesting in itself.

I bought from Fitz Coins (and I wish I could buy more from them, in a lot of ways they remind me of Savoca and Gitbud & Naumann in 2014-15), which is a very new enterprise, at least online: 15EUR for DHL Paket, and I think it's a flat rate for EU. So not even the excuses I have read on a German forum about new auction houses being charged unreasonably by transporters pans out. I sometimes buy medievals from a big Polish auction house: 10EUR UPS straight to door delivery. I buy from an incredibly swift Slovenian firm, also I think a newcomer in the business: 15EUR 16-24hr DHL Express delivery, if I pay on Sunday the envelope is at my doorstep on Tuesday morning. I made it a habit to buy from Savoca weekly even if I'm not particularly thrilled by anything, because the prices of item+shipping are right and they provide excellent contact and post-buy services and I really want them around for a long time. I would say that this is the ballpark of normality. Unfortunately "normality" is increasingly rare.